Path
by windtear
Summary: AU. In the country of Zhipang, Akira Okuzaki has always known her destiny, and it has shaped her entire life. Complete.


**Path**

by Raye Johnsen

* * *

_'My-HiME' and 'Mai-Otome' are copyright Hajime Yatate and associated parties, not me._

_This fic is AU (Alternate Universe) . Please keep this in mind as you read._

* * *

Akira's first memory was of standing on the balcony above the Emperor's dais, watching the small boy who stood beside the Emperor and Empress. She stared through the carved wooden bars at the crowd that cheered so loudly when the Princess gently pushed the little boy forward to stand in front of everyone.

"That's Prince Takumi, Akira," her mother said softly behind her. "When you grow up, you'll protect him."

"Protect?" Akira asked. She was too young to know to be quiet, but her voice was lost in the crowd's noise.

"You'll look after him," her mother explained. "Your job will be to make sure he's always all right."

* * *

The young Prince wasn't nearly as robust as her older brother or her cousins, coughing a lot and tiring easily. But Akira didn't mind. She was one of the smallest and weakest of the children of the Imperial Ninja, and while Father said strength would come with training, and that being small and light meant she was fast, it was nice to be the strong one. It was her job to look after him, after all. 

Which meant it was her job to be with him when he sneaked out to pick strawberries instead of attending his lessons, and to play go and shougi with him when the advisors said he had to learn strategy. It also meant she was the favoured recipient of the results of his insistence on cooking lessons. Luckily, she had a cast-iron stomach. Still, it was fortunate for both of them that he improved quickly.

She was with him when the news came about the boating accident, and watched in bewilderment amd shock as the world turned upside down for the two seven year olds, and she became an orphan as her playmate became her Emperor.

Only one thing remained certain as everything else changed in a heartbeat: it was her job to make sure he was all right.

* * *

Her training intensified, of course. It is one thing to be the companion and personal defender of the Crown Prince, and quite another to be one of the Emperor's bodyguards. She didn't mind; better to lose a couple of hours sleep than to run the risk of losing Takumi as well. 

A year after Takumi's coronation, Princess Mai decided to cross the sea and attend Garderobe, assuming the power of the Otome and becoming the Emperor's chief defence.

That was what was planned. For the two years of the Princess' training in far-off Windbloom, all went well. Akira looked forward to her return. She had never interacted with the Princess very much, not being used to girls of an exhuberant nature, but she did like the Princess, and if the Princess assumed leadership of the Emperor's bodyguards, Akira might be able to slip back into the role of the Emperor's companion and friend.

Then the news of the Princess' disappearance came.

All Zhipang was in shock. First the Old Emperor and Empress, now the Princess... was the Imperial Family under some kind of curse?

Akira thought about it for six weeks, and then she presented her proposal to the Emperor. Not Takumi, not Takumi for her anymore - the loss of the Princess was the loss of her final chance to return to those halcyon days of innocent friendship. She was the daughter of the late Emperor's personal bodyguard and the late Empress' personal bodyguard, and had been raised from her birth to be to her parents' charges' son as her parents had been to his. It was time for her to take on her role.

At first he objected, but Akira was adamant. "We need the power of the Otome, now more than ever, my Lord," she informed him briskly. "Please allow me to go and learn. I will not be lost as the Princess was, I swear!"

And so, finally, Akira was on a boat to Windbloom, to Garderobe and her goal.

As an Otome, she would always have the power to make sure he was all right.

* * *

At barely eleven, Akira was the youngest candidate entering Garderobe that year, and one of the youngest ever on record. Several of the other Otome candidates were cheerfully contemptuous of the little girl who was so much younger than they were, while others were sisterly, in a way Akira had never experienced before, raised by a mother who knew well her daughter would always be required to stand with her kunai in hand. 

This attitude lasted until the first end-term results were posted, and Akira led the class in every field. After that, few were prepared to be more than courteously friendly with her, and more than a few's contempt and dismissal turned to angry, burning hate.

At the end of the first year, when the exam to graduate from Coral to Pearl was held, she tore through her fellow Corals and won the right to the pearl earring with a savagery that shocked the onlookers. They could not know that Akira was visualising her opponents as enemies threatening Takumi. Nor was it long before she was a member of the Trias, and as soon as she had passed enough of the tests, she petitioned the Headmistress of Guarderobe for an early graduation.

"It is not Garderobe's policy to graduate students before their sixteenth birthdays," Lady Maria declared, staring down her nose at the girl who was still over a month off her thirteenth birthday. "You have accelerated your training almost beyond comprehension. Most girls spend at least four years within Garderobe..."

Akira stared back at her. "It is not unknown for a student to take less than that. Did not the Fire Stirring Ruby study here only two years?"

"The Fire Stirring Ruby was not twelve years old!"

"I have passed the tests! My Emperor needs an Otome! He doesn't _have _four years for me to waste learning stuff I already know!"

The Principal, sitting at the desk behind her, coughed softly. "Nevertheless, it is not recommended," she stated quietly. "Assuming the Robe will change your body chemistry and possibly your physical development. You have not yet finished puberty - you haven't even started your menses yet. The process of assuming a Robe may cause you to remain in your current stage of adolescence longer than you normally would, or even to never leave it at all."

Akira glared at them. "And my Emperor _does not have time_ for me to wait to grow up first. I don't care what assuming the Robe will do to me. Zhipang needs me, her Otome, as soon as possible."

Both Maria and Akira stared at each other, neither backing down.

The Principal sighed, and broke the stalemate. "Very well." Akira smiled as she continued. "We will inform Zhipang that you are ready to swear yourself to the Emperor. Miss Maria, please begin the arrangements to have Miss Okuzaki's GEM prepared. Miss Okuzaki, prepare yourself for the ceremony."

* * *

Akira stood behind the doors of the auditorium, pacing backwards and forwards, repeating to herself the words of the Offering and the Oath, to be sure she got them right. "I, Akira Okuzaki, do offer myself up to thee, Takumi Tokiha of Zhipang, to be thy Otome now and until the end of thy need. If thou wilt receive me, I beg of thee, take thou up this GEM and name me thy Otome... I do swear to be thy Otome, for good or ill, through peace and war, through calm and unrest, binding myself unto thee and thy service, until death should fall upon us..."

"Calm down, Miss Okuzaki," Miss Maria said loftily, entering the antechamber. "There is no need to be nervous."

Akira did not reply, her attention fixed on the small red velvet box in Miss Maria's hands.

"Here," Miss Maria said. "Your GEM. The Mysterious Peridot." She gently placed the box into Akira's suddenly nerveless fingers, flipping it open to reveal its contents to her. There, on a bed of pale green silk, lay a red-gold ring surmounted by a pale-green gemstone, matched by another, similar stone set into a red-gold earring.

"We set them in red-gold to match your colouring," Miss Maria said softly. "It appears they'll go with your dress, too. It's very nice, but aren't the national colours of Zhipang purple, white and gold? Why did you have a red dress made?"

"It's traditional for things of this nature," Akira said shortly. She looked up. "Um - Miss Maria - uh. Thank you. For the past two years."

"You were an excellent student, Miss Okuzaki," Miss Maria replied. "You deserve your GEM." The music started, and Akira turned to the doors. She took a deep breath, and began to pace down the aisle, towards Takumi and the only wedding she'd ever have.

It was her job to look after him and make sure he was always all right, after all.

* * *

**Author's notes:**

1. I'm basing the age/timing off the anime (even though Akira is not an Otome there). If we assume Takumi and Akira are the same age/maybe a little older than Mashiro and Arika, this means they are sixteen/seventeen at the time of their appearance (as the celebrations for Mashiro's sixteenth birthday were going on during their visit). While the Otome training course has no specified length, it appears to be between two and four years. At the time of the visit, for the masquerade to be pulled off, none of the Garderobe students can recognise Akira as an Otome, so Akira and Takumi must be able to assume that none of the students who were in Garderobe with Akira are still present. Therefore, it must be four years or so at least since Akira's assumption of the Mysterious Peridot (to give the youngest, longest-serving student time to graduate). Thus, Akira could be no older than thirteen when she assumed the Robe of the Mysterious Peridot.

2. Takumi's exact rank in Zhipang, as compared to the mediaeval Japan Zhipang is based on, is unclear. He is clearly the ruler of the country and deferred to as such, but is sometimes referred to as 'Shogun'. In mediaeval Japan, the Emperor, although the tititular head of the country, had no political power - the Empire was run by the Shogun, the commander of all of Japan's armies and legally the Emperor's Official Representative. The title of Shogun was not necessarily directly hereditary although the families through which the Shogunate passed did their best to make it so. Consequently, although it was known from his infancy who would be the next Emperor, it was not necessarily so clear who would be Shogun. I am choosing to follow, in this fanfic, the idea that there is no Shogun as such in Zhipang and the Emperor (in this case, Takumi) holds the power directly, so when he is referred to as 'Shogun', it is in his role as the Commander-in-Chief of Zhipang's armies.

3. There is no indication in canon of who was Principal of Garderobe prior to Natsuki Kruger, so I'm leaving her unnamed.

4. In Japan, China and many Asian countries, traditional wedding garments are red.


End file.
